And here's a note from J.D. Southall in Afghanistan: I used to call him OAR! His name backwards. He was an exceptional fella. I rode with him in his MRAP from July to September when I transferred to just North of Kandahar. We conducted many missions together and onenight while we were trying to dispose of an IED we were hit by both Rockets and small arms fire. He usually dismounted and he and I would check culverts for explosives. He was with 2-77 Field Artillery, TF Steele! I was proud to have served with him and his unit for a shorttime in Afghanistan. I will be home soon for R & R leave. Again, I have to live with the guilt of living and it seems that all the really great ones get killed!

JD
***Rao, 26, was killed when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle in Afghanistan. It was his third tour, but his first in Afghanistan.

Courtesy of the Rao familyArmy SPC Elijah John-Miles Rao.Here's our story:
The remains of a West Linn High School graduate were scheduled to be returned to the U.S. this afternoon, two days after the soldier was killed in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Specialist Elijah John-Miles Rao, 26, of Lake Oswego, who survived two tours of duty in Iraq before heading to Afghanistan, was killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday, according to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Rao would be the 24th person from the Portland/Vancouver area and among 853 soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war.
Rao's stepfather, Vancouver photographer Don Hauerken, posted news of his death Sunday on a motorcycling blog:
"The words you never want to hear from a military officer or policeman. We heard them today."
Rao was fatally injured by an improvised explosive device on Dec. 5 when his convoy stopped at the site of an earlier explosion, Hauerken wrote. When Rao stepped out of the truck another IED was detonated.
His death came just weeks before he was due back in Oregon for a leave, his father said, and six months before his tour ended in May
Rao leaves behind a wife and a baby girl, his father said.
The family was expected to be in attendance when Rao's remains land this afternoon in Delaware. The media has been invited to attend.
-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson
I was out of touch today, so sorry this was late. I got an email from Afghanistan a day ago suggesting that Oregon had lost somebody, and when I was driving back from the coast, I saw flags all along the way flying at half-staff. I kept hoping it was for Pearl Harbor Day. I'm sorry I was wrong. Deepest sympathies to Spec. Rao's family.